Icing is a problem which affects the aviation and renewable energy generation industries, among others, and can occur on aircraft wings, propellers and other components as well as on the blades of wind turbines. Chemical and/or electrical deicing techniques are often used in the aviation industry, but there is no corresponding technique suitable for wind turbines given their size, fixed arrangement and tendency to ice non-uniformly because of the difference in wind speed at the tip versus the center of the blade. Thus, if icing is detected on the blades of a wind turbine, the turbine typically must be shut down, resulting in a loss of energy generation.